Badal seeks Gujarat CMs intervention on farmers plight

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday sought immediate intervention of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to sort out the issue of ownership right of Punjabi farmers on the agriculture land in Gujarat.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday sought immediate intervention of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to sort out the issue of ownership right of Punjabi farmers on the agriculture land in Gujarat.

In separate letters to Modi and Gadkari,Badal said the orders of the Kutch Collector to freeze more than 1000 Khedut Khatas (agricultural accounts) of the Punjabi farmers was an injustice to these people who had developed this barren land into a fertile one with their hard labour. The Chief Minister said he was peeved to learn that though the Gujarat High Court had given a ruling in favour of these farmers,the state government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against it.

Badal in the letter,copies of which were circulated to mediapersons here,said this was totally unfair as Gujarat was a homeland to these Punjabi farmers who had been ploughing the land for the past three decades,thus playing a pivotal role in the progress of the state.

Urging Modi and Gadkari to have a sympathetic view on the matter,the Chief Minister said if the matter was resolved amicably,misery and distress of these farmers could be avoided.

Badal should go to Gujarat: Bir Devinder

Former Punjab Assembly speaker Bir Devinder Singh on Tuesday said the distressed Sikh farmers of Gujarat,who met Balwant Singh Ramoowalia at Chandigarh were unable to meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son,deputy CM Sukhbir Badal. It is shocking that nothing tangible appeared to have been done for them despite the fact that SAD is n inseparable partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Above all,CM Badal enjoys a great rapport with Gujarat CM Narinder Modi. The Badals should immediately fly to Ahmedabad to take up the matter as it is a matter of life and death of 4,000 families who sold their small land holdings in Punjab to settle in Gujarat, he said in a press statement.